The relationship between Apu Biswas and Shakib Khan is arguably the most talked-about scandal in the history of Bangladeshi cinema. They never officially confirmed their relationship for years, but the signs were everywhere: matching jewelry, secret photos leaked from foreign vacations, and the intense, possessive dialogues they delivered to each other on screen.
In 2015, the secret was out. Reports confirmed that Apu and Shakib had been in a clandestine relationship for years and had even married in a private Nikah ceremony. In 2016, the world learned they had a son, Abraham Khan Joy.
For a brief moment, it looked like the perfect reel romance had found a real happy ending. The "Royal Couple" of Dhallywood posed for family photos, and the industry celebrated.
What makes Apu Biswas’s story so compelling is the eerie parallel between her most famous roles and her life. The relationship between Apu Biswas and Shakib Khan
| On-Screen Trope | Real-Life Parallel | | :--- | :--- | | The betrayed wife fighting back | Her legal battle against Shakib mirrored her film Antor Jala (Inner Pain). | | The single mother | After the split, she raised her son alone, a role she played in the film Mayer Adhikar (Mother’s Right). | | The public humiliation scene | A staple in 90% of her films; lived out in tabloids when Shakib exposed their private life. |
Apu herself has acknowledged this blurring. In a candid podcast, she noted: "When directors wrote scenes where the heroine cries alone in a room, I used to ask, 'How does that feel?' Now I don't have to ask. I know."
Analyzing her body of work, several recurring patterns emerge in Apu’s romantic storylines, each reflecting a facet of her immense range: The show received both praise and backlash
Zahid Hasan, another titan of the industry, created a unique on-screen language with Apu—one built on maturity, wit, and a certain world-weariness.
Their romantic storylines often revolved around "second chances." In several hit dramas, they portrayed divorced or widowed individuals finding love again, a theme still relatively taboo in conservative Bangladeshi society. Apu’s characters with Zahid were strong, independent women—business owners, teachers, or single mothers—who chose love on their own terms.
One standout storyline involved Apu as a single mother running a small boutique, and Zahid as a widowed banker. Their romance was not about grand gestures but about small kindnesses: a shared umbrella in the rain, help with a crying child, a patient conversation. Apu normalized mature, pragmatic love—the love that chooses companionship over passion. For older audiences, these storylines were revolutionary, showing that romantic fulfillment is not just for the young. running a small bookstore—a quiet
Perhaps the most daring phase of Apu’s romantic portrayals came mid-career when she took on roles that deliberately dismantled the myth of “bad boy” romance. In the controversial serial Ei Meghla Diner Golpo (Story of a Cloudy Day), she played a wife trapped in a psychologically abusive marriage.
This was not the weepy, victimized role of her early years. Instead, Apu portrayed Nila, a woman who slowly recognizes the toxicity of her husband’s love—his possessiveness masked as passion, his jealousy framed as care. The storyline was a slow-burn deconstruction:
The show received both praise and backlash. Conservative viewers accused it of “destroying the family unit.” But for a generation of young women, it was revolutionary. Apu’s character did not wait for the man to change. She walked away. The final episode showed her alone, running a small bookstore—a quiet, radical statement that a woman’s happy ending need not include a husband.